Spike Doesn't Like My Story
by Speedlion
Summary: Yeah, Spike isn't fond of my story at all...
1. The Prologue Of Prologues

**Spike Doesn't Like My Story**

Prologue:

Once upon a time, in a different dimension, there was a brave knight called Speedy Lionhardt.

"**Wait! Stop! STOP!"**

"_Hmm? What is it, Spike?"_

"**First sentence in and you already managed to force your own character into this story! No-one was told about this! No-one is waiting for this! Look, everyone is already losing faith in this story!"**

"_J-Just wait for a bit. Let me at least finish the first paragraph, man."_

"**Hmph."**

So, as I was saying, once upon a time, there was a brave knight called Speedy Lionhardt. He might be brave, however, there weren't really any things he could be brave in. To summarize, nothing ever happened. So, while in name a brave knight, Speedy Lionhardt was actually a lazy jerk, living from his own (false) reputation that he himself had spread among the population. However, one day, something DID happen and our "brave" knight was all but happy with that.

That day, Speedy's morning started when three ponies crashed through his door and two windows. Speedy, whom had been lying in his bed, perhaps dreaming of an award ceremony for his outstanding bravery, opened his eyes at once at the deafening sound that the three ponies produced with their actions. Unlike what Speedy initially assumed, the sound had not been produced by robbers, a horde of angry chickens or even a horde of attractive lady-ponies, but by three young ponies that he knew very well. Along with that, Speedy also realized that he had no windows anymore. Nor a door.

"Wake up, Mr. Lionhardt!" one of the three young ponies, an orange one with purple manes, yelled at the top of his lungs.

Speedy's mouth fell open and his jaw hit the floor with the speed of light, unconsciously setting a new world record.

"My windows!" he yelled.

"Mr. Lionhardt, you've been summoned by the King and Queen!" a white pony with pink and lavender manes yelled.

"My DOOR!" Mr. Lionhardt then yelled.

"Quick! We must hurry to the palace as fast as possible!" the last of the three, a yellow pony with red manes yelled, following her two friends' example.

"WHY are you here!?" Mr. Lionhardt yelled at the three young ponies.

"We just told you, Mr. Lionhardt," The yellow pony told Speedy, "Y'are expected to arrive at the palace's throne room five minutes from now."

Mr. Lionhardt grumbled as he laid his head on his pillow again.

"Tell them to move the award ceremony to 4 o'clock," Speedy said, as he turned himself away from the three ponies, planning to continue sleeping. The three ponies looked at each other for a moment.

"Scoot, you take his front-hooves. Sweetie, you take his back-hooves. Ah'll take the tail," the yellow pony said.

"Roger," Sweetie Belle replied.

"Got it, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo responded with a huge grin on his face.

It took Speedy's sleepy head five seconds to process the young ponies' words and another five to realize exactly what their plan was. At that point, it was too late for the poor Speedy. The three ponies giggled and laughed as they dragged Mr. Lionhardt out of his beloved bed and no struggling and screaming could get Speedy back in his bed. But that didn't mean Speedy didn't try. Alas, all effort was in vain, and when Mr. Lionhardt was standing in the throne room, he was convinced that he had covered the bigger part of morning excercises of next month with this one morning. Behind him, with big grins, stood the three ponies, Scootaloo (the orange one), Apple Bloom (the yellow one) and Sweetie Belle (the white one). In front of him, stood, in all their glory and excellency, the King and Queen of Equestria, Luna and Celestia.

"**Uhm, Luna's a girl."**

"_You want me to make Celestia the King?"_

"**THAT'S NOT MY POINT! You can't genderbend anything in this story!"**

"_But it makes so much more sense to use both a King and Queen… Besides this is another dimension!"_

"**I said "no genderbending in this story"! Change it! No-one likes their favorite characters genderbent!"**

"_No-one?"_

"**Okay, maybe some people… BUT GENDERBENDING IS STILL NOT ALLOWED!"**

"_Okay, okay."_

In front of him, stood, in all their glory and excellency, the two Queens of Equestria, Luna and Celestia.

"_So, are they lesbi-"_

"**DON'T GO THERE!"**

"_Fine."_

"We are glad you could come this quickly and I and my sister are sorry for calling you here on such a short notice," Celestia apologized as she did two steps forward.

"Ah, don't worry about it, Your Excellency," Speedy responded quickly, "I would sacrifice my desire to sleep for the kingdom if you would wish so, My Queen."

Speedy neatly bowed. Behind him, Scootaloo had started giggling as Speedy said that. Speedy glared back at Scootaloo angrily, but that didn't stop Scootaloo in the least. Celestia paid no mind to the youths behind Speedy and continued talking.

"Oh, don't worry, no such measures will be taken. To the matter at hand, you might already have an idea as to the reason why we called you here."

Speedy started digging in his memories. Did something happen recently? He couldn't recall doing anything wrong lately. Or doing anything at all. He had no idea why he had been called here.

"Pardon me, but I cannot think of anything that would make the Queen summon me to her wonderful palace," Speedy told the queen not minding the amount of words he used to tell her he didn't know.

"Very well. Last night, our daughter, Princess Rarity, has been kidnapped," Celestia said.

"WHAT?!" Speedy said in utter surprise, before realizing that he had just been yelling "what?!" right into the Queen's face and quickly regained his composure, "Pardon me, kidnapped you say? When did this happen!?"

Queen Celestia coughed. Somehow, Speedy didn't realize he'd just asked a question that had already been answered. The ever-so-kind Celestia didn't mind answering his question again.

"Last night, Sir Lionhardt," Celestia said.

"That's terrible!" Speedy exclaimed, "Did they catch the culprit yet?!"

"Not yet, Sir Lionhardt," Celestia replied.

"The fiend!" Speedy said, "If I'd been there, I would've stopped him for sure!"

"Suuuuuuuuure you would've," Apple Bloom joked behind Speedy.

Speedy turned around and hissed:

"Keep your funny comments to yourself!"

This only led to some snickering from the three friends.

"As you may have guessed," Celestia said, drawing the attention of all four before her to herself again, "we would like you to free our daughter."

As strange it may sound to you, dear reader, but this request surprised Speedy greatly. It also scared him.

"S-Surely, there must be other brave knights in Equestria that could save the Princess," Speedy tried to get out of this.

"Yes, there are many brave knights in Equestria," Celestia replied, "But for this, we needed our bravest knight and whoever we asked, they always said that you, Sir Speedy Lionhardt, were the bravest of all Equestria."

Speedy immediately realized that there were two options for him: Disclaim to be the bravest of Equestria or take the mission. And Speedy immediately knew what to do.

"L-Leave it to me, then," Speedy said, not able to admit he wasn't the bravest of all of Equestria, "I'll return the Princess safe and sound to Your Majesty's side!"

"I and Luna are grateful that you have accepted our request," Celestia said with a smile on her face.

"Worry not. I shall bring her back before the evening falls," Speedy boldly promised. He then coughed, "If you don't mind me asking, Your Excellency, did anyone report a direction in which the culprit fled after the kidnapping?"

"It is assumed that the culprit flew towards the Blackburn Mountains," Celestia informed Speedy.

"Ah, so it's a pegasus!" Speedy wisely deduced.

"No, a dragon," Celestia corrected the brave knight.

"Aaaaaah, a dragon," the brave knight said. There was a one-second silence.

"Wait, what?!"

The brave knight realized what exactly this meant, as he started to regret his decision to take up the Queen's request. The brave knight then also realized that the reason everyone had referred to him as the bravest in all of Equestria was because everyone was else was too scared to save the princess out of the clutches of a freaking dragon. He had to get out of this! He had to! Somehow!

"A-a-a dragon?" Speedy asked, shaking from fear, "Is this something we're one hundred percent of?"

"Pegasi generally don't spew forth fire as they go," Celestia said.

"F-f-f-f-fire!? The dragon spews fire?! Are you sure of this!?"

"Most certainly," Celestia confirmed, "The dragon lit up the sky, making it seem like it was day. It is thus thoroughly surprising that you had not noticed a single thing last night."

"Y-Yes, thoroughly surprising indeed," Speedy repeated, mentally only half present at this point. The surpressed snickers from the three young ponies behind him didn't reach his mind anymore and he couldn't care less about them at this point. He was looking death straight in his face. And death has a very scary face. A dragon-face to be exact.

"His name is Spike," Celestia informed Speedy, whom was on the verge of fainting.

"**I KNEW IT!"**

"_Was it too obvious?"_

"**This is not what you promised me!"**

"_You wanted an important role, right?"_

"**But not as an antagonist!"**

"_Well, then what?"_

"**A hero! Swap me with Speedy! How dare you make the hero your own character! That's not popular at all!"**

After Speedy's conversation with Celestia, the brave knight stumbled out of the palace with eyes that seemed to stare into nothingness, followed by three ponies that just couldn't stop laughing.

"**HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME! I'M MAKING A VALID POINT HERE!"**

Apple Bloom caught up with Speedy.

"How 'bout we accompany you, so you don't feel lonely on your way, Mr. Lionhardt."

This snapped Speedy out of his half-zombie state.

"Forget it… you can go alone! I'm out of here!" Speedy said, as he started galloping away.

"That's not the correct direction!" Apple Bloom yelled at her.

"Exactly how I want it!" Speedy yelled back, as he turned around a corner. Apple Bloom stood still and let Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle catch up with her.

"What a coward," Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Belle snickered.

"Aren't you a little too relaxed, Sweetie?" Apple Bloom said to her friend, "After all, that's your sister that dragon has kidnapped."

"I'm more worried about the dragon than my sister, to be honest."

"Well, we're talking about a dragon here. She could be dead, y'know," Apple Bloom said.

"Nah, this is a child-friendly story. All the author wants with this story is make people laugh anyways," Sweetie Belle explained to her friends.

"_They seem awfully confident."_

"**YOU'RE NOT GONNA MAKE ME KILL RARITY, ARE YOU?!"**

"_Well, probably not KILL her, but-"_

"**DON'T YOU DARE CONTINUE THAT THOUGHT! I'm a very kind dragon! I would never do any harm to Rarity."**

"_Fine, fine, you kidnapped her because you love her. Man, and here I was thinking of a sudden horror plot-twist in the story."_

"**Don't reveal the motives of the antagonist in the prologue! That's a spoiler!"**

"_I believe most already guessed your motives. You're so predictable."_

"**You're the one writing this story! Not me!"**

"_Yeah, yeah. Anyways, this prologue is ending."_

"**Prologue? This is a prologue? It's far too long!"**

"_Don't whine. I like prologues! I don't want to call this the first chapter! Anyways, if you, my dear reader, managed to read this far, without rage-quitting and angrily throwing your computer, laptop or typewriter out of the window, I applaud you. Tell me what you thought about this small (long) prologue."_

"**It's horrible! Speedy better not show up in the second chapter."**

"_FIRST chapter. This is the prologue."_

"**YOUR PROLOGUE IS TOO LO-"**

"_I hope you enjoyed the story! Till next time!"_

"**DON'T INTERRU-"**

THE END! (of the prologue)

…

…

"Those two are really hogging the spotlight, don't you think?" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, it's unfair," Apple Bloom agreed.

Sweetie Belle enthusiastically nodded her head, standing by her friends' words.

THE REAL END (of the prologue)


	2. Spike Doesn't Like My Prologue

**The Second Prologue:**

"**Wait, what?"**

"_I haven't even started and you're already complaining. What did I do wrong this time around?"_

"**Everything."**

"_Be more specific."_

"**Second prologues don't exist!"**

"_Aww… I can't make a second prologue?"_

"**No. Change it."**

"_Fine."_

**Chapter 1: Spike Doesn't Like My Prologue**

"_Better?"_

"**NO! It's even worse!"**

"_Well, tough luck for you."_

It seemed like it was raining in Speedy's house… raining clothes to be exact, sometimes with a toy, pineapple or some other random article mixed in with the continuous downfall of everything that should not be falling from the sky. However, when we zoom in, we see that this rain had a very easy explanation. Speedy was nervously going through his room, throwing stuff behind him. In the middle of the room stood an opened briefcase of considerable size. Some articles conveniently landed into the briefcase, while others landed just around it. Others landed somewhere not even near the briefcase.

"Bowtie! Bowtie! Where's my bowtie! AH! THERE!"

Speedy threw the bowtie behind him. It made a perfect loop and landed in the center of the briefcase.

"_10/10."_

"**Just continue."**

"Now, where's my top hat! And monocle! AND PINEAPPLE!"

"**Why a pineapple?"**

"_Speedy's cutie mark is a pineapple."_

"**That only raises more questions."**

Behind Speedy, near the door, had it still been there, came snickering and giggling. Speedy abruptly turned his head around, guessing as to whom those giggles and snickers came from. He was not wrong.

"You seem rather eager to go and save the Princess," Scootaloo said between two giggles.

"The princess can marry that dragon for all I care. I'm outta here."

"**Yeah, let's end it with a marriage!"**

"_That would be boring."_

"**C'mon!"**

"Well, there is a slight problem, if that's your plan," Apple Bloom said.

"Yes, and that problem is you three. Hush, get out! You're in the way!"

"The problem is exponentially bigger than any of us could ever be," Sweetie Belle said.

"The problem that you are is getting exponentially bigger every single second," Speedy retorted, as he stopped searching for his beloved pineapple.

"There's not really anywhere you can flee to, Mr. Lionhardt," Scootaloo informed Speedy.

"Nonsense," Speedy said as he squinted his eyes and pointed at the three friends, "I'll just go to the next village."

"There isn't one," Scootaloo responded.

"Of course there is," Speedy said, as he turned around and continued searching for his lost pineapple, "How can there not be at least a second village?"

"Well, y'see," Apple Bloom said, "The author is currently only at the second season while the fourth season is currently airing and hasn't watched an episode in half a year, so he doesn't remember a lot of details. Rather than taking guesses, the author decided that the only city would be Equestria."

"_I can attest to that."_

"**You're too lazy! Don't write fanfiction about series you haven't seen completely!"**

"_I was forced to write a story like this!"_

"**Yeah, right!"**

"What!?" Speedy exclaimed, "Ridiculous! There isn't even one single pony outside of Equestria?!"

"Only dragons," Sweetie Belle said.

"You're telling me there's this huge planet and us ponies only occupy a tiny little bit of that planet?! You're telling me the majority on this planet are dragons?!"

"Dragons to the north, dragons to the south… dragons everywhere," Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo cleared her throat.

"On that day, the ponies received a grim reminder," she recited.

"Ooooo, nice!" Sweetie Belle praised, as she started clapping her hooves together .

"THIS ISN'T ATTACK ON TITAN!" Speedy yelled.

"_Great idea!"_

"**No."**

"_Attack on Dragon: Friendship is Magic."_

"**I said no."**

"_You're no fun, Spike."_

Speedy slowly sat down.

"I'm doomed," he said with a voice so desperately that the author almost wanted to stop writing out of pity. (Luckily, the author also likes Speedy's misery, so yay, more writing!)

"That, or, y'know, you could save my sister," Sweetie Belle suggested.

"I'll die! I'll be deep-fried by that dragon!" Speedy yelled in desperation, already imagining a scene where the dragon was deep-frying him while watching a tv-show on cooking, preferably with a napkin around his neck.

"I hope he uses some mayonnaise, cause that dragon will die if he eats you without anything tastier than sand," Scootaloo joked.

"But that way, the Princess would be saved," Apple Bloom deduced.

"**I don't like this plan."**

"_You never like my plans."_

"**Truer words have never been spoken."**

Scootaloo slowly walked over to a helmet and sword hanging on the wall. To Speedy, they were simple decorations and ways to impress ladies… even though ladies rarely entered his home. He'd never ever used it. Scootaloo took the helmet of the wall and threw it at Speedy with little force behind it. It hit Speedy's head, bumped up into the air and then neatly fell on top of Speedy's head.

"C'mon, you brave warrior," Scootaloo said as she also took Speedy's sword and its sheath from the wall and walked over to Speedy, "Let's go on an adventure."

Scootaloo smiled enthusiastically as she said that.

"But I'll d-"

"Nah, you won't. We'll be there to protect you."

"You're three little brats. If anything, I'll have to protect YOU!"

"Except we want to go and you don't. Who's the bravest of Equestria again?" Scootaloo asked Speedy as she stuck the sword into the wooden floor of Speedy's house, right in front of the owner.

"Hey!" Speedy exclaimed, "That's my floor!"

Scootaloo turned around and walked over to the door.

"Depends," she spoke, "You can choose to make this planet your floor, go out there and create a brave, heroic tale that will be told around campfires and as bedtime stories generation upon generation, eventually turning into a legend. That, or you could stay here in a house with a hole in the floor and be the biggest disappointment of Equestria. Your choice."

With that, she walked out of Speedy's house with a smile on her face, followed by her friends, both with a similar smile on their faces.

"_Epic speech by my favorite character: Check."_

"**THAT COULD HAVE BEEN ME! I COULD HAVE SAID THAT! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE ME THE ANTAGONIST?!"**

"_Because you're a dragon. Ever seen a dragon that isn't an antagonist?"_

"**Let's see… Hmm… How abooooooout… ME?!"**

"_You don't count."_

"**DISCRIMINATION! SOMEONE! STOP THIS GUY!"**

Speedy grumbled a bit and then took the sword out of the floor.

"Dang brats, convincing me to do the stupidest thing in my entire life," he said, as he stood up, readjusting the helmet on his head.

"Wait for me, you brats!" he yelled as he stormed out of his house. The three hadn't left yet, however, but had been waiting just outside of Speedy's house.

"I win. Gimme those five bucks, Sweetie," Scootaloo said, holding up her hoof in front of Sweetie Belle's face.

"Dang!" Sweetie Belle said, as she gave Scootaloo the money she'd lost with their bet, "And here I thought he was too scared to go."

"You really have no faith in me, do you?" Speedy said, trying to kill the three with angry glares.

The three friends laughed.

And so, an epic adventure started for the four ponies. Half an hour later, they were already walking through the outskirts of Equestria. Right and left of them were fields with vegetables and gardens with fruit. The three young ponies were visibly and audibly much more enthusiastic than their older companion, whom they were cheerfully circling around, as they sang and yelled about adventure, treasure and dragons, the last of which made Speedy more nervous with every mention of those terrifying creatures.

"Uhm, girls, quiet down a little," Speedy tried to suggest. It did nothing to change the enthusiastic moods of the three girls.

"Hey, hey!" Apple Bloom yelled, "Wanna make bets on how many dragons we'll see?!"

"One hundred!" Scootaloo yelled.

"A thousand!" Sweetie Belle followed Scootaloo's example.

"OVER NINE THOUSAND!" Apple Bloom yelled even harder than her two friends. They then laughed, as Speedy got only more and more annoyed.

"Can you please not make so much noise!? I'm thinking!" Speedy yelled, moving his angry glare from one of the young ponies to another.

"'bout dragons?" Apple Bloom asked him with a mischievous smile on her face.

"No, NOT about dragons!" Speedy said, as he looked at the sky for a moment, "Stop mentioning those fearful creatures."

"But dragons are so rare! You'll only ever get to see them once in your lifetime if you're lucky!" Apple Bloom yelled.

"I don't like that kind of lucky."

"You're more fond of the lazy kind of lucky, aren't ya?" Scootaloo said as she poked Speedy's side.

Speedy wisely decided to not react to that statement.

"Well, well," a voice different from the four dragon hunters sounded in front of them, "I've never seen you so enthusiastic about helping us harvest the apples, Apple Bloom."

Being so enthusiastic and wild and in Speedy's case, annoyed at jumping, loud ponies, none of them had noticed a pony coming towards them. Connected to the pony in front of them was a big cart, filled to the brim (and over the brim) with delicious apples, fresh from the apple acres that the four adventurers were now walking through. All of a sudden, Apple Bloom wasn't so enthusiastic anymore.

"Aaaah… yeaaaah… the harvest…" Apple Bloom said, as she looked away from her sister, Applejack. Applejack raised an eyebrow. She then also noticed Speedy.

"G'morning, Mr. Lionhardt," Applejack greeted him as she tipped the cowboy hat she was wearing atop her head and blond manes.

"Good morning," Speedy greeted back hesitantly. He didn't know where this conversation was gonna go, but he was quite sure he wasn't going to like it. There was an awkward silence. There were quite a few question that were hanging in the air, but strangely, Applejack hadn't asked them yet, perhaps because this was the first time Applejack and Speedy had met each other.

"What nice weather, huh?" Speedy started as he laughed sheepishly.

"A little less clouds is always welcome in spring, though," Applejack said.

Speedy looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was hidden behind the clouds. He then proceeded to grin embarrassed.

"So, uh, what is your destination, Mr. Lionhardt?" Applejack asked the question that she had been wondering the most about. Speedy wanted to answer, but Scootaloo started yelling the answer before Speedy could.

"We're gonna hunt-"

The last and most essential word of Scootaloo's sentence was muffled by Apple Bloom's hoof. Applejack raised her eye-brow a little higher.

"We're… just… taking a nice walk… enjoying the weather… and stuff…" Apple Bloom lied, trying to convince her sister with a big grin.

Applejack looked up at the clouds and then looked back at her little sister, still with her eyebrow raised. The three friends looked at each other.

"Something ain't right," Applejack stated.

"PLAN A FAILED! ABANDON PLAN A! COMMENCE PLAN B! RUN!" Apple Bloom yelled, as she started running. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed her as soon as possible.

Applejack was surprised at the weird actions of her little sister and her friends, as she turned her head around, watching them run farther and farther away from her. She turned around and wanted to ask Speedy what the heck was happening, but Speedy was ahead of her.

"Blackburn Mountains. To save Princess Rarity. From a dragon."

Applejack's mouth fell open slowly. She turned her head once more for a single second, before looking back at Speedy.

"They're intent on following me, yes," Speedy said, ahead of Applejack's question again.

"Oh, no, they won't," Applejack confidently stated, as she let go of the cart she had been towing and started running after the three adventurous friends.

"Oh, boy," Speedy sighed, as he started walking into the same direction.

An hour later, the three friends were sitting next to an apple tree, not far away of the actual house where Applejack, Apple Bloom and the rest of their family lived.

"**Uhm, I think you just skipped a part… did you accidentally forget about the chase scene?"**

"_No, I just didn't know how to write that part… so I just skipped it."_

"**You're a terrible writer."**

"_Yes, I know… now, let me continue… this isn't funny… not even interesting… it's best if the reader just skipped this part._

"**You're a little late with saying that."**

Apple Bloom had a stubborn face and was sitting right in front of the tree. She was purposely not looking at her sister in front of her, instead choosing to look at the beautiful clouds in the sky above her. Left of her was Scootaloo, whom was looking around, trying to find something interesting to see. Right now, the most interesting thing she'd seen was a yellow butterfly which was calmly flapping its tiny, colorful wings as it circled around several flowers, just as colorful as the butterfly itself. Sweetie Belle, on the other side of Apple Bloom, was the only one obediently looking at Applejack.

"Dragons, huh?" Applejack said, as she walked to the left, then to the right, then to the left, continuing to repeat the same moves over and over, "Ah don't think you've got no time for dragons, Apple Bloom."

"Ah'm sure y'all can handle it without me," Apple Bloom said, quickly moving her eyesight to her older sister, before returning it to the sky.

"It's tradition that everypony from the Apple family helps with the apple harvest," Applejack reminded Apple Bloom, "Every little bit of help gets those apples to Equestria faster. And that's beside the fact that saving a princess and hunting dragons is not something young ponies like you should be doing. Those things are reserved for people like Mr. Lionhardt."

Applejack looked behind her, where Speedy, whom was feeling a little awkward with this whole situation, was standing.

"Right, Mr. Lionhardt?" Applejack asked with a glare that told Speedy he couldn't say "no".

"Ah, uh… I… guess?"

"YOU TRAITOR!" Apple Bloom now yelled, as she angrily pointed her hoof at Speedy.

"Nothing like that," Applejack said, "Mr. Lionhardt is a wise and brave knight and young ponies like you shouldn't be bothering him on a quest like this."

At the mention of the words "wise", "brave" and "Mr. Lionhardt", Scootaloo started laughing, which made Speedy look annoyed at her. Sweetie Belle also couldn't help bet let a few snickers leave her mouth. Apple Bloom was too stubborn to laugh or smile.

"Now, help me harvest the apples. Those apples won't magically fly out of those trees by themselves."

"**What about unicorns?"**

"_Don't ask me."_

Apple Bloom let out a gigantic sigh, before standing up and sloooooooowly walking into the apple acres, occassionally letting out huge sighs, just to make sure Applejack knew really well that Apple Bloom wanted to hunt dragons and not apples.

Applejack's look changed a little as Apple Bloom disappeared in between the trees. A little bit of sadness could be seen in her eyes. Applejack sighed and then turned to Speedy.

"Ah'm sorry if mah li'l sister caused you any trouble."

"Ooooooh… don't worry about that," Speedy reassured her, "I can take some trouble. I wouldn't be a knight if I couldn't handle three bra- err… young ponies."

There was another awkward silence.

"Right… uhm… I'll be harvesting apples. I wish you good luck on your journey," Applejack said with a smile, before turning around and following Apple Bloom into the apple acres.

"So… what now?" Scootaloo asked Sweetie Belle, "Should we just…"

The two looked at each other for a moment, then both stood up and walked right after Applejack.

"You coming, Mr. Lionhardt?" Scootaloo asked.

"Coming? Where to?" Speedy asked, not sure why Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle went that way.

"That should be obvious," Sweetie Belle said, "To the apple acres."

Speedy raised an eyebrow and started galloping after Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

"Why would we go there?" Speedy asked.

"To help out with the harvest, obviously," Scootaloo said, as she looked behind her at Speedy impatiently, wondering why Speedy didn't understand already.

"What about the princess? What about the dragons?" Speedy asked.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo simultaneously sighed and both stopped walking.

"Look here, "brave" hero. I'm not sure how you knights do it, but I'M not going to leave a friend behind so I can have fun. We're going with four ponies or we're not going at all," Scootaloo explained.

"Or are you planning to go on your own?" Sweetie Belle asked, squinting her eyes.

"Well, uhm… I'm not sure… I guess I don't mind waiting."

Sweetie Belle smiled.

"Good. Then let's get going and help out Applejack, Apple Bloom and the rest of the Apple family," she said, as she and Scootaloo started walking again.

"Me too?" Speedy asked surprised.

"Friends are supposed to help each other," Scootaloo said.

"I see," Speedy said, thinking, "Wait! When did I become friends with you three brats?!"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle started laughing.

"_And then, a beat starts going and a song starts playing."_

"**A song?"**

"_Y'know… singing ponies as they harvest apples! This is a perfect scene for that!"_

"**Well, where are the lyrics?"**

"_I'm horrible at writing lyrics."_

"**Not necessarily just lyrics."**

"_Can you please stop that… the readers are getting tired of that joke."_

"**It's not really a joke."**

"_Let's just move on."_

A series of horrible sounds came from one of the barns. It sounded like a monster was breathing heavily… a monster with a horrible cold. But in reality it was just an exhausted Speedy, lying half inside and half outside the barn. It was almost dark outside. If the clouds hadn't been there, it might have been lighter, but alas, night came a little earlier than usual. The clouds had only thickened and darkened throughout the rest of the morning and afternoon. Speedy's helmet and sword were lying right next to him, in a thin layer of hay that was covering most of the barn's floor.

"Thanks for the help," Applejack's voice sounded from above him. When he looked up, he saw how she was holding a glass of apple juice, nicely adorned by a shining, delicious apple on top of the glass. Applejack put the glass down in front of Speedy.

"No thanks. It was nice to experience something like this," Speedy said, not lying this time.

"You've got a hard life," Speedy continued to say.

"Naaaaah," Applejack denied Speedy's last sentence, "The Apple Acres is what I live for. It's become a part of me."

She looked behind her at the darkened hills, countless trees standing on top of and in between them, some with apples, some without, plucked clean of the delicious fruit today.

"I couldn't live without these beautiful hills, trees and apples," she said smiling, as she explained her life's ambition to Speedy. Speedy just smiled, not knowing what to say back to Applejack. A response from Speedy wasn't needed.

"We'll be having some delicious apple pie inside in a bit," Applejack told Speedy, "Come join us if you want."

"If you don't mind me intruding, sure!" Speedy said, happy to hear of delicious apple pies being baked for him to eat.

"Everyone is welcome here," Applejack said, as she started walking towards the house.

Then, silence… these were those moments where you could just think about life and its purpose… or just relax. Speedy smiled. He removed the apple from the glass and laid it in the hay as he grabbed the glass and moved himself in a position where it was possible for him to drink from the glass. It took him a total of five seconds to gulp down the almost criminally tasty apple juice. He'd never drank apple juice this tasty before… He was usually indulging himself in beer and other alcoholic drinks at this time of the day, but he couldn't say he was missing those alcoholic beverages at the moment. He could swear this apple juice was the tastiest dang thing he'd ever drank in his entire life, even better than that one time he drank that strange alcoholic pineapple drink.

The apple was finished quite quickly as well. Just as he took the last bite, he felt a drop of rain fall on top of his head. He jerked his head up.

"Dang, and it was such a good mood too!" Speedy grumbled as he stood up and galloped towards the front entrance of the house. The delicious smell of apple pies greeted him as the door was opened by a red, male pony with a sprig of wheat out of the side of his mouth.

"Thanks," Speedy said as he quickly galloped inside.

"No prob," the male pony said with a slight smile.

It started raining uncontrollably outside, but that didn't stop the atmosphere in the Apple family's house to be as cosy and great as always, as everyone present ate apple pie until they couldn't fit a single piece inside their stomachs anymore.

"Psssssst! Mr. Lionhardt! MR. LIONHARDT!" a whispering voice tried to wake up the soundly sleeping Speedy Lionhardt. The only result those words had on Speedy was that he turned himself around in the bed that had always been reserved for guests.

"How does one wake up this idiot in the middle of the night?!" the voice whispered again, this time to someone else.

"We managed to do it in the prologue, didn't we!?" another whisper answered.

"We broke his windows and door… we can't do that this time," a third voice whispered.

"Yeah, there's only one door and one window here," the second voice whispered again.

"I wouldn't have allowed you to destroy my house anyways!" the first voice whispered angrily.

"Guys! We need to wake him up! Stop bickering!" the third voice came again, "we're wasting time here!"

"I have an idea!" the first voice said.

The pony that the whisper belonged to bent forward towards Speedy's left ear.

"Mr. Lionhardt! Your cutie mark! It has disappeared!"

This did wonders. As if someone had flipped a switch, Speedy's eyes opened.

"MY CU-"

Not much of Speedy's sentence could be heard as his words were muffled by a hoof.

"Ssssssssssssssh!" it sounded from the one holding her hoof against his mouth. They were, as you probably guessed, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

"You're finally awake," Scootaloo said.

"My cutie mark! Where's my cutie mark!?" Speedy said with a voice that was just a bit harder than a whisper. He kicked the bed sheets away from him. Nothing had changed about his cutie mark. There was still that delicious looking pineapple adorning his left flank. He turned to the three smiling faces of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

"Why'd you wake me up!?" he asked, almost making no effort to make his voice less loud than usual.

"Ssssssssssssh!" Apple Bloom immediately reminded Speedy he needed to be quiet.

"We're leaving!" Scootaloo said, holding up Speedy's helmet, sword and accompanying sheath.

Speedy was silent for a few seconds.

"What about the harvest?" Speedy whispered.

"The rest will be able to finish it without me," Apple Bloom said, "They can't say I didn't help this time."

Speedy looked at the three faces of the young ponies. He sighed, took the helmet from Scootaloo's hooves and put it on his head. He stepped out of bed… and promptly fell to the ground, causing a loud "BANG" to resound throughout the whole house. All four froze into place, expecting any second to hear a door opening somewhere else in the house, but nothing like that happened.

"What are you doing?!" Sweetie Belle whispered annoyed.

"Muscle pain," Speedy complained as he stood up with some suppressed grunts of pain. He took the sheathed sword from Scootaloo now as well and swung it on his back.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Speedy asked.

"You're the one who's holding us up!" Apple Bloom said.

"We're itching to go!" Sweetie Belle added to her friend's statement.

Speedy walked over to the door and opened it. There was no rust on the hinges, luckily, so no sound was produced as they all exited the guest bedroom. Without any trouble, the four adventurers made it outside.

"Are you guys really-"

"Yes, yes we are!" Scootaloo said impatiently, "stop asking that question!"

Speedy shrugged. The four of them then disappeared into the night… but not unnoticed. From a tree's shadow, created by the faint moonlight, the four were looked at as they exited the house's premises and continued on through the apple acres, to the Blackburn Mountains. The pony sighed.

"Missing them already, sis?" a male voice sounded behind her.

Applejack turned around surprised and saw her brother, Big McIntosh, standing behind her.

"Oh, you were also still awake," Applejack said, accompanied by a sigh of relief to see her brother and not a complete stranger.

"E-yup," was Big Mac's short answer.

"They're so predictable, sneaking out at night," Applejack said. Big Mac was just silent and let her sister continue.

"They grow up so fast."

Applejack smiled as she watched the darkness of the night envelop the backs of the four ponies.

"**She sounds like their mother."**

"_Well, she kind of is a motherly figure to the Cutie Mark Crusaders… right?"_

"**Maybe a little. Still too extreme to me, the way you portrayed her motherly-ness."**

"_I'll just chalk up differences in personalities between my story and the actual show to the fact this play in a different dimension."_

"**Did I already tell you you're a horrible writer?"**

"_Too many times. Anyways, my dear reader, if you liked this chapter, I thoroughly hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. A little less humor, but I don't think that's too bad. If you don't mind, please leave a comment and tell me what you think. You'll make my day, even if it's just a simple "this looks great"._

"**How about a "this looks horrible"?"**

"_I don't mind if you tell why…"_

"**Anyone can see why… why else do you think someone reviewed your story with those seven offensive letters."**

"_I like to just pretend that's a bored troll, but if you really didn't like my story, rude person with the offensive nickname, please tell me why… Being slightly more civil might also help you bring your point across ^^. In any case, like I said, thanks for reading and cy'all next chapter!_


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